Is your radio ready?

PRINCETON — Mandated two-way radio upgrades are in the air.

The Federal Communications Commission has mandated all two-way radio systems operating a radio under a Federal Communications Commission license be upgraded to a narrowband frequency spectrum by January 2013. This mandate applies to radio systems used by emergency response agencies, school districts, highway departments and government agencies, businesses and individuals. The mandate will require modification or replacement of current radios if they are not already narrowband capable.

Ross Beedle, owner of Gem Electronics in Monmouth, said 99 percent of two-way radio users will be impacted by the FCC mandate to go to narrowband. His company installs and maintains emergency communications systems throughout west central Illinois.

Agencies and entities that have kept up with upgrades to their radio systems should be able to adapt their current radios to make them narrowband-compatible, Beedle said. However, it’s the older radios that will have to be replaced because they are not narrowband-compatible. People need to go back to their service company or sales agency to have their own radios checked out, Beedle said.

In explaining the push for the narrowband upgrade, Beedle said the FCC has indicated the newer narrowband technology means more frequencies can be added to air space, which is currently very overcrowded.

Radio users should begin now to get their paperwork in place for the licensing transition and implementation of narrowband, Beedle said.

Locally, June Dillman, director of the BuEComm Emergency Communications Center and coordinator of the Bureau County Emergency Telephone System Board, said the local 9-1-1 system is ready for the narrowband mandate. The radios used by Bureau County’s 9-1-1 system are already narrowband compliant or easily adapted to the narrowband spectrum.

“BuEComm has been narrowband compliant since its new 9-1-1 center opened in 2007,” Dillman said. “Unless the federal government decides to make some changes, we are good to go.”

Grant money is available through the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System to help with narrowband-upgrade costs for 9-1-1 systems that are also MABAS dispatch centers, Dillman said.

Even after all the police, fire, EMS and other radios are upgraded to narrowband, the next challenge will be for license holders to activate their narrowband communications systems at the same time in order to not interrupt communication capabilities, Dillman said. For instance, since Putnam County is the back-up for Bureau County’s 9-1-1 system, Putnam County will have to activate to narrowband at the same time as Bureau County, as will all the local emergency services.